Report: Manchester United courting Chinese game devs The9, Giant, and NetDragon for branded game

Football fans all over the world know the name Manchester United. And while last year’s champions of England seem to have hit a rough patch under new manager David Moyes, the team’s off-the-field global marketing efforts are second to none. Now, the China’s First Economic Daily is reporting that the Red Devils have reached out to some of China’s top game companies, including The9, Giant Interactive, and NetDragon, in search of a cooperative partner to work on social/web games.

These reports have been confirmed by at least one source within the Chinese game industry, but not yet by officials from Manchester United (Games in Asia has contacted the club for comment and will update this story if we hear back). However, Chinese sources claim that the letter United sent to several companies inviting them into discussions came from Manchester United board member and group managing director Richard Arnold.

It makes sense that United might be interested in gaming in China; after all it is a lucrative market and Manchester United is a powerful brand. In fact, the club has more global fans than any other football team on earth, and its followers in China are quite numerous.

It’ll be interesting to see what sort of games United is interested in working on, if these reports are true. Branded, soccer-related mobile and browser games would probably be the obvious place to start, but you never know what direction a club with the resources of United might want to take things in.